Coach Mac Victorious in his Debut

David Wilson's clutch hit, the go-ahead triple in the sixth inning, help secure the win as Florida Atlantic beat Forham 8-6 on Friday.

Whatever pregame jitters Coach Mac might have felt were
short lived. Sophomore starter Mike Gipson provided a great start by retiring
his first three batters - two by strikeouts.

The Owls offense provide some relief of its own when Travis
Ozga recorded the first hit of the season, followed by a three-run home run
by Tom Hatcher in his first at bat, adding a second digger in his second at bat
of the evening later on.

Forham answered with three runs in the top of the second to tie
the ball game.

The few lapses by the Owls defenders did allow Forham to rally and chase the Owls starter in the fourth, after Gipson threw 26 pitches
allowing the Rams to push three runs across the plate to take a short lived 6-4
lead.Gipson pitched 3 2/3 innings, striking
out six, while allowing five hits and six runs, two of them earned.

Alex Pepe came on in relief to pitch three solid innings, shutting
down the Forham offense by retiring all ten of the Rams batters he faced and
the team seemed to finally settle down and play solid baseball the rest of the
way.

Newcomer Nick DelGuidice could not have envisioned a better start as an
Owl. He led all players with three hits and was inches of going 4-4 in his
first game as an Owl, on a ball pulled deep into the left field corner, ruled
fouled.

Hugh Adams worked a scoreless ninth to earn a save and help
preserve Coach Mac's first victory as a head coach after serving 18 years as an
assistant for the Owls.